Greg and Glenda ended up at the airport where they boarded a plane that landed in West Virginia. Then by bus, they were taken to Camp Dawson, a 4,000-acre military base in the mountains of Preston County, where the couple say they were met with nothing but love.

“We really felt cared for when we got here,” he said. “The people here, there’s a parallel to the people and the hospitality of what we experienced in New Orleans.”

That love led to a special moment for Greg and Glenda – a moment 15 years in the making. They decided to give back the love they were shown in West Virginia by getting married at Camp Dawson.

On Sept. 24, dressed in royal purple, Glenda walked down a grassy aisle brightened by rose petals to the sound of Pachelbel’s Canon D. Under a pavilion made into an altar, a local pastor joined them in holy matrimony.

“It was a consummation of everything,” Greg said. “We made it legal according to man’s law.”

The day was special for another reason.

“It wasn’t so much about us, we found out afterward,” he said. “It was more about the coming together of the people, and something happened that day. It was way beyond us and our wedding.”

The people of Camp Dawson came together that day – the evacuees, the volunteers and the military stationed at the base.

“It was a marriage of people in like minds, and people who wanted to be together in harmony and unity,” Greg said.